This invention relates to an improvement over the laser delivery arrangement described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/714,785, filed Aug. 28, 2006, which was published on Mar. 21, 2007, as U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2007-1067937, and is incorporated herein by reference.
The prior application discloses a laser delivery arrangement in which a Teflon™ introducer extends beyond the tip of the fiber and thereby prevents contact between the fiber tip and the wall of a blood vessel or other tissue being treated. The tip of the fiber is arranged to direct laser light in a radial direction so as to impinge on walls of the vessel. One example of a suitable fiber tip is a conical tip, which is also the type of tip illustrated herein, although it will be appreciated that other fiber tip configurations may be substituted for the illustrated fiber tip, and that the invention is not limited to a particular type of optical fiber.